For immediate release

Feb. 3, 2009 — 11 a.m.

Outages continue to decrease for electric co-ops

View the latest information about Missouri co-op systems affected by winter storms.

More men and equipment are pouring into the Missouri Bootheel today in an all-out effort to restore power for members of four rural electric cooperatives that received extensive system-wide damage during last week’s ice storms.

While some systems made great strides overnight, others encountered a few setbacks. As of 10 a.m. today, fewer than 17,000 co-op members now remain without power, down from more than 64,000 members at the height of the disaster.

Pemiscot-Dunklin Electric Cooperative, Hayti, is the epicenter for the damage. The co-op’s entire distribution system was taken down in the storm, as were heavy transmission lines that feed electricity from power plants to local substations. Some 6,300 Pemiscot-Dunklin members are without electricity.

However, fresh line crews from electric cooperatives in Louisiana and Iowa should be on the ground today. There are 40 linemen coming from Iowa and 22 more from Louisiana, where linemen from Missouri helped restore power following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. These are in addition to crews from Grundy Electric in north-central Missouri and Cuivre River Electric in east-central Missouri who arrived on Monday. Four more linemen from central Missouri’s Callaway Electric Cooperative also are expected today.

More linemen from Illinois also are coming as soon as they finish up damage repairs in the southern part of that state.

Transmission cooperatives in Missouri have only skeleton crews left in their home offices as they have sent every available lineman into the fray to help M&A Electric Power Cooperative restore transmission lines serving the area. These crews are showing up with every piece of hardware necessary for the lines they will repair.

While all the power plants serving electric cooperatives are on line, the energy they produce can’t reach substations due to the heavy damage to transmission lines.

John Farris, manager of M&A Power, says a contractor is working on transmission lines from north of Kennett south to Senath. Transmission crews are also focusing efforts on a line leading to Pemiscot-Dunklin’s headquarters, which is still operating on a generator.

Another big push is on to energize the heavily damaged lines leading into the Malden area. “We are really intensifying our efforts in the Bootheel,” Farris said.

To aid in the process, the transmission cooperative brought in sleds to move trucks across muddy fields. Essentially huge steel plates, the sleds allow dozers to move trucks that are sinking into the deep gumbo mud of the swampy ground. On Monday, crews worked in knee-deep mud to repair lines located in the middle of fields where rice is grown.

Also on Monday, linemen working with Pemiscot-Dunklin had repairs nearly 100 percent complete to the St. Jude substation, which serves members and industrial accounts in the Marston area. Efforts are focused on both sides of the Bootheel, with one group staging in the Kennett area and another based at the University of Missouri’s Rone Exhibit Hall on the east side of the Bootheel.

Pemiscot-Dunklin members are served by 14 substations. Today, crews will be working on all substations in an attempt to get damage repaired so they are ready when crews working for M&A Power energize the substations. Also today, co-op personnel hope to hook generators to the two schools served by the cooperative, Senath-Hornersville and Southland.

Generators are already serving all of the rural water districts and the Senath nursing home. At this time, there is no timetable for complete power restoration for Pemiscot-Dunklin members.

At Ozark Border Electric Cooperative, West Plains, steady progress was made overnight as outages fell to 4,300 members. Damage to the system is concentrated around Malden, where 3,000 are without power, and in Butler County, where about 1,000 still do not have electricity. The other 300 are individual outages scattered throughout the system.

The substation that serves the Malden area is the last in Ozark Border’s territory to have transmission service restored.

At SEMO Electric Cooperative, Sikeston, gains made yesterday were lost overnight. A cold front accompanied by strong winds pushed through the region, knocking broken limbs and branches from ice-damaged trees onto power lines and causing outages. The winds also caused lines to slap together, causing even more outages. Other outages occurred after a substation began sparking and had to be taken off line for additional repairs.

“Last night, we were at about 5,500 outages and that jumped up to 6,300,” said Glen Cantrell, SEMO’s communications manager. “We’ve brought things  back to where we were, and we’re working to make more strides today.”

Cantrell said the co-op received assistance from six additional line crews yesterday that will continue with restoration efforts today. M&A Electric was able to bring another substation on line near Miner, which will help bring electricity closer to member homes.

The bright spot the past two days has been great progress at Howell-Oregon Electric Cooperative, West Plains. Thanks to favorable weather, the co-op’s crews and 40 additional outside crews — more than 175 men altogether — have made huge strides. They continue to make progress on restoration of the largest ice storm to ever to hit that cooperative's electrical system.

As of early this morning, Howell-Oregon reports 651 members without power. Work still remains on eight substations damaged during the storm. Conditions on the ground are still treacherous as mud and ice have combined to create a slurry that slows the restoration process.

Most of the main feeder lines are restored leaving individual outages left to tackle. These outages will take longer to accomplish simply because fixing one problem only restores electricity to one or at most a handful of members. In addition to fixing individual outages, the line crews need to replace 285 damaged utility poles. It’s hoped crews at Howell-Oregon should be wrapping up by sometime this weekend.

Outage totals as of 10 a.m., Feb. 3 are as follows:

Howell-Oregon, West Plains: 651
Ozark Border, Poplar Bluff: 5,000
Pemiscot-Dunklin: 6,000
SEMO, Sikeston: 5,500
White River Valley, Branson: RESTORED

TOTAL: 16,751

For a look at how your co-op typically goes about the task of restoring electric service, visit http://www.amec.org/poweron.html

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Editor's Note: For media inquiries, contact Jim McCarty at 573-680-2451